1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a toner cartridge guide unit capable of restraining toner leakage by repeated mounting and demounting of a toner cartridge, and an image forming apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A toner unit of an especially small-size image forming apparatus generally houses toner therein. This small type image forming apparatus also generally has an integrated structure of a developing unit including a toner unit, a developing medium, a developing roller, a supplying roller and a cleaning unit. Therefore, the developing unit itself was replaced with a new one, when the toner is used up.
It is especially inefficient and financially burdensome for a user who uses up the toner frequently and thus has to exchange the toner unit also frequently. It is also a waste of resources because other parts, such as a photosensitive medium or a developing roller, is also disposed altogether with the toner unit when the toner is used up.
Therefore, it will be more efficient to separate a toner cartridge holding toner therein from a developing unit for an image forming apparatus, so that a user can save expenditure.
FIG. 1 illustrates an image forming apparatus having the structure explained above. A color image forming apparatus has a plurality of color toner cartridges 100, such as cyan, magenta, yellow, black toner cartridges, in a main body 101, a feeding unit 102 housing a plurality of paper sheets, and other necessary components such as a developing unit, a fusing unit and a discharge unit although these are not illustrated in the drawing.
Referring to FIG. 2, each of the developer cartridges 100 is mounted along a guide frame 10 which is provided at an upper end of the developing unit (not illustrated).
The guide frame 10 has a toner feeding hole 11 in fluid communication with a toner discharge hole (not illustrated) provided at the toner cartridge 100. A toner sealing member 12 may be interposed between the toner cartridge 100 and the guide frame 10 so that the toner feeding hole 11 can be in tight contact with the toner cartridge 100.
The toner sealing member 12 is made of a soft material, such as sponge, to prevent toner from leaking toward the guide frame 10 while being discharged through the toner discharge hole, when the toner cartridge 100 is mounted.
However, problem often arises as the toner sealing member 12 is deformed due to an end of the toner cartridge 100 colliding against the toner sealing member 12, as the toner cartridge 100 is pushed in towards the arrowed direction of FIG. 2 to mount.
Because the toner sealing member 12 is made of a soft material such as a sponge, the toner sealing member 12 is compressed by the toner cartridge 100 moving in, thereby being brought into a tight contact with the toner cartridge 100. As the toner sealing member 12 is repeatedly compressed with friction by the toner cartridge 100, over time the bondage to the guide frame 10 is lessened, and in the end, generally the corner of the toner sealing member 12 is detached from the guide frame 10 and curled up or down. If this happens, toner leaks through the space created between the guide frame 10 and the detached corner of the toner sealing member 12.